IRS 'lost' emails just unbelievable says Vista's Congressman Issa

U.S. House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrel Issa returns to his office after votes on the House floor March 6, 2014 on Capitol Hill.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Complaining of "obstruction and game-playing" in his letter and subpoena for Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner John Koskinen, Congressman Darrell Issa of Vista, California says he is "astounded" about the years of lost Lois Lerner emails.

Especially in light of previous dialog with the IRS Commissioner. To quote the June 16, 2014 letter sent by Issa, who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee:

"By the IRS' admission, an unknown number of federal records were permanently lost or destroyed when Ms. Lerner's computer crashed mid-2011. .... The FRA [Federal Records Act] requires agencies to make and preserve records of agency decisions, policies and essential transactions, and to take steps to safeguard against the loss of agency records. The Federal records Act places the burden on the 'head of the federal agency' to 'establish safeguards against the removal or loss' of federal records. Clearly, former Commissioner Douglas Shulman did not do so. The Federal Records Act also requires the IRS Commissioner to notify the Archivist of the United States if there is reason to suspect that the records in question were unlawfully destroyed. It is not clear whether former Commissioner Shulman or any of his successors, including you, have taken that step with respect to the documents stored on Ms. Lerner's hard drive."

Lost

Per the House Oversight Committee, this subpoena comes "... as a result of the agency’s recent statement that the IRS lost an unknown number of emails pertaining to the activities of former IRS official Lois Lerner from January 2009 to April 2011. It also comes on the heels of the IRS’s repeated empty promises of compliance with oversight."

Quoting Issa's letter:

“I will not tolerate your continued obstruction and game-playing in response to the Committee’s investigation of the IRS targeting. For too long, the IRS has promised to produce requested – and, later, subpoenaed – documents, only to respond later with excuses and inaction. Despite your empty promises and broken commitments to cooperation, the IRS still insists on flouting Constitutional congressional oversight. “

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Writer, BA - Business Admin. & Leadership, 12 yrs helping to govern a Vista HOA Community, I am able to understand people, priorities, deadlines & budgets. (College coursework included Business Law, Communication in the Workplace, Marketing for Results, Business Strategies for Success, Ethical Principles of Effective Businesses, and Human Resource Strategies and Applications, as well as Financial Management of Businesses.)